Welcome to The Fellowship of the Fleece. This game is in the time-honoured tradition of text-only adventures, the concept behind which being that your mind is capable of painting far more vivid pictures than mere computer graphics could achieve. YOU are the central figure in the story, and you will be presented with a series of problems & puzzles in your course to the final solution. These problems will frequently require you to possess certain items obtained from elsewhere in the game and to use them in a particular way. It would be unwise to assume that any single item has only one use! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As an indication of how you are progressing, you will be presented with a regular update of your score and the number of moves made so far. This, however, is only a general guide, and should not be taken too seriously. Points will be awarded for obtaining certain items and for solving some problems, but remember that the final objective is to complete the game - you will be in no doubt when this has been achieved! At the risk of stating the obvious, you would be well advised to draw a map. Read all text carefully, and examine all objects, as in many cases the information you receive will be helpful in indicating your way ahead. There are often clues in the descriptions of locations and objects which can provide valuable pointers. THE PARSER ~~~~~~~~~~ The parser in The Golden Fleece is certainly as sophisticated as any you will have come across in previous adventures. You communicate with the game by typing in your entry in plain English when you see the prompt >, finishing with the key. To move around, just type in the desired direction, remembering that from any location there may be the eight compass directions: NORTH, NORTHEAST, EAST, SOUTHEAST, SOUTH, SOUTHWEST, WEST, NORTHWEST, plus UP and DOWN and IN and OUT. These can be abbreviated to N,NE,E,SE,S,SW,W,NW,U,D, although IN and OUT have no abbreviations. The commands can be expressed in many ways - thus, NORTH could be typed in as `NORTH', `GO NORTH', `GO TO THE NORTH' or simply `N'. With certain verbs you are able to use multiple objects. Thus if you find yourself in a location in which you wish to acquire several items, you could type in `TAKE THE LAMP THE SHOTGUN AND THE LOG'. Note that `THE' & `AND' are understood, but not required, and the above command could just as easily be `TAKE LAMP SHOTGUN LOG'. The use of the words `EVERYTHING' OR `ALL' can be useful. Thus you could enter `TAKE ALL' or `GET EVERYTHING' in which case everything available to be taken in your present location would be acquired. The exception facility `EXCEPT' or `BUT' is also useful in that you could type `TAKE EVERYTHING EXCEPT THE LAMP AND THE BALL'. Note that this command could also be expressed in several different ways such as `TAKE ALL BUT THE LAMP AND THE BALL', `GET ALL BUT NOT THE LAMP OR THE BALL' or `TAKE EVERYTHING BUT NEITHER THE LAMP NOR THE BALL'. Please note that you may come across certain situations where an object is hidden either inside, on, behind or under another object. In this sort of situation you have to specify exactly from where you wish to acquire the item. Thus, if you are in a room which contains a box (or indeed are carrying the said box) and the box contains an emerald, typing `GET THE EMERALD' would not work - you would have to enter `GET THE EMERALD FROM THE BOX'. Examining any container will tell you whether or not it holds anything of interest. Extrapolating from the above, you could enter the command `TAKE EVERYTHING FROM THE BOX', or if there were some things you wished to exclude this could become `TAKE EVERYTHING FROM THE BOX BUT NOT THE EMERALD OR THE DISK', `GET ALL BUT THE EMERALD AND THE DISK FROM THE BOX', or even `GET ALL FROM THE BOX BUT LEAVE THE EMERALD AND THE DISK'. Multiple commands are available within one entry by separating each comm- and with either a full stop or the word THEN. Illustrative examples of this follow: `TAKE THE HELMET FROM THE BOX THEN PUT THE EMERALD ON THE CHAIR' `KILL THE TROLL WITH THE AXE THEN PUT ALL BUT THE DISK INTO THE BOX' `OPEN THE DOOR THEN GO THROUGH IT' Or in shorter form: `GO NORTH.DROP ALL BUT LAMP.GET DISK.RING BELL.WAIT' While really lengthy instructions could be entered as follows: `N.N.E.U.NW.E.OPEN DOOR.E.N.GET ALL.WEAR COAT.READ SIGN.D.N.N.NE' SAVING AND RESTORING ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It's not giving too much away to say that at certain points in the game you will do something which unfortunately results in your untimely death. As this can happen without warning, you are advised to save your position from time to time. This is done by entering the single-word command SAVE whereupon you will be prompted for a filename for the position. Enter the filename and hit the key. To restore the game from any saved position, type the command RESTORE and enter the appropriate filename when prompted followed by . To restart the game from the beginning enter the command RESTART followed by . SOME SPECIAL ONE-WORD COMMANDS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AGAIN - This will repeat the last command you entered from the keyboard. It can be abbreviated to the single letter `G'. INVENTORY - Gives you a list of what you are currently carrying. It can be abbreviated to the single letter `I'. LOOK - Gives you a description of your surroundings. It can be abbrev- iated to the single letter `L'. SCORE - Gives you your score in the game so far. QUIT - This lets you stop your current session of the game. You will be asked to confirm that this is what you really wish to do. The command can be abbreviated to the single letter `Q'. WAIT - This allows time to pass for one move of the game, without any other event taking place. It can be abbreviated to the single letter `Z'. BRIEF - Normally you are presented with a full description of each room only on the first occasion you enter it. On subsequent visits you will be told only the name of the location and any objects present. This is how the game will normally act unless you tell it otherwise using the VERBOSE or SUPERBRIEF commands. VERBOSE - This tells the game that you wish a complete description of each location every time you enter it, even if you've been there before. SUPERBRIEF - This commands the game to display only a location's name, (together with any objects there) even if you've never been there before. Of course, you can still get a full description by typing `LOOK'. SLEEP - You may (or may not) wish to have the occasional rest. This command allows for that. GAMES - This will give you a list of all the saved-game positions on disk from which you can restore. DELETE - Allows you to delete a file from the saved-games directory. Before proceeding with the deletion, the program will first request you to confirm that you wish the file to be deleted. AUTHOR - Tells you who to contact if you're REALLY stuck! VERSION - Tells you the release number of your version of the adventure. FINALLY ~~~~~~~ Note that this game is far from easy, and will doubtless take you very many days (if not weeks) to complete. It often helps if you play along with someone else as frequently what one person finds difficult another finds easy, and in this way you can complement one another. Please persist, but if you are REALLY stuck, you can write to me at the following address enclosing a stamped addressed envelope:- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Jim MacBrayne 19 Dinmont Road Shawlands Glasgow G41 3UJ Scotland Compuserve 100411,461